Trying to solve problems like Maria

It was fun for a while, we had no way of knowing

Pardon my unattractive gloating and excessive pride but last week My Trivia Companion and I finally won the monthly quiz at Our Local Bar because we are awesome and smart! That made us the recipients of [undisclosed amount of money but I will say this, we can now buy roughly 115 things from a dollar store]. Usually we do well in the first couple rounds of trivia night, getting a shout out or some acknowledgement that we are frontrunners. Once, we won the bonus round and got a free pitcher of beer. But we have never won the whole thing. With categories like “Junk Food” and “TV” you’d think we’d sweep every game, but they do make it pretty hard (careful that you don’t confuse Pocky with Crunky when asked questions about Japanese sweets, it just might be your team’s undoing).

This past week though, victory was ours and if you want to know why exactly it was so sweet, I will gladly tell you why, exactly. Because when some random obnoxious dude who you have never seen at trivia night before and his random obnoxious friends come in and think they own the place and start yelling things at Trivia Night Host and act like they are headlining a bringer show at the Comedy Cellar, you want to take them down. And take them down we did. When the winners were announced, we were all slightly annoyed when Team Living in Obnoxion placed second. People that obnoxious do not deserve to win a free round of drinks, let alone any kind of intellect-related bragging rights. My Trivia Companion and I, who hadn’t even placed on the charts in round one, were ready to pack it in. But then, Trivia Host announced the winning team name, Nina Garcia, and the bar went silent. My Trivia Companion and I were stunned and it was only when Trivia Host said “Did someone forget what they named their team?” that My Trivia Companion said “No..? We’re here,” and then I raised my hand silently. Because to speak would have made me actually seem normal, but raising one’s hand lends a certain je-ne-sais-quoi’s-actually-wrong-with-that-girl to a night of playing trivia in a bar full of strangers, I think.

My Trivia Companion and I, who of course chose to name our team for the Project Runway judge and fashion director of Elle magazine with a name that flows like honey, were subdued in our celebration. We chose to focus on what exactly put us over the edge, analyzing our strategies for the final round which was “Name that Music Video” and gloating quietly over the fact that we think we were the only team that correctly identified Roxy Music’s “More Than This”. As we left the bar, the smugness set in a little and we bundled our coats in the chilly February air because lets be honest, it gets cold on the (Bryan) Ferry to Winner Island.